Jmol – we love it

Bob Hanson has just released yet another stunning set of routines in Jmol.
Here is a snapshot (of a slice through a crystal), but the actual demo is, of course, interactive.
You don’t have to be a scientist or computer guru to appreciate these – any modern browser will bring molecules to life in front of your eyes.
And it’s no coincidence that last week Jmol was #20 in activity stats in Sourceforge (and CDK was ca #30). That is amazing as there are ca 1,000,000 projects (perhaps 100,000 active). The top slots are always filled with mainstream computing tools – editors, mailers, content managers, etc. But here are 2 Blue Obelisk projects right up there with them.
So the tide is turning towards OpenSource in molecular science. If anyone tells you that only commercial companies can write useful code, point them to the Jmol applet and site. And, although it’s less easy to demonstrate visually, to all the Blue Obelisk projects.